Registering device and method for use in multicolor printing



July 7, 1936. A RlEss 2,046,508

REGISTERING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR USE IN MULTICOLOR PRINTING Filed Aug.6, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORN EY 6. A. FRlEss July 7, 1936.

REGISTERING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR USE IN MULTICOLOR PRINTING Filed Aug.6, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS G. A. FRIESS July 7, 1936.

REGISTERING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR USE IN MULTICOLOR PRINTING 3Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 6, 1955 INVENTQR m 62, BY

ATTORNEYJ 55 nga ti-on lines.

Patented July '7, 1936 RATE FF 16E REGISTERING DEVICE AND METHOD FOR USEIN MULTICOLOR PRINTING Gustave A. Friess,R,yc, N. Y., assignor to NewsSyndicate Co. Inc., New York, Y., a corporation of New, York ApplicationAugust 6, 1935, Serial No. 34,869

4 Claims.

My invention relates to a new and improved registering device andmethod, for use in multicolor printing.

One of the objects of my invention is toprovide a new and improvedscribing tool guide, which can be used for making the correct cylinder10- cating marks on each separation print or positive, so that thesemarks can be correctlylocated or registered on the individual printingcylinders.

Another object of my invention is to provide means for locating thecentre lines on each page which is to be printed.

Another object of my invention is to provide a very simple and efiicientmethod and tool or device, 'for this purpose.

Other objects of my invention will be set forth in the followingdescription and drawings which illustrate a preferred embodimentthereof, it being understood that-the 'abovestatements of the objects-ofmy invention are intended to generally explain the same without limitingit in any manner.

' Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a sheet of paper or metal or the like,which is provided withregistra- This sheet may be designated a mastersheet, and it serves the purpose or" a reference standard, and it isused to locate the illustration, etc., properly on the page in the finalprinted result.

Fig. 2 is a top plan View of a sheet of separation negative made ontransparentmaterial, such as glass or celluloid or the like. Thisseparation negative of the pictorial representation, corresponds to oneof the colors of the multi-color matter whichis to be printed. Fig. 2illustrates the separation negative of an entire page which is tobeprinted.

Fig. 3 is a top plan View, showing how'the lightperrneable separationnegative whichis shown in Fig. 2, has been placed over the sheet ofpaper which 'is shown in Fig. '1.

Fig. 4 is a sectional View on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view, showing theiimp'roved tool, located on top ofa sheet of glass or other transparent or suitable material, whichcorresponds to another separation print.

Fig.6 is an elevation of the tool shown in Fig. 5,taken at the bottomedge of Fig. 5.

Fig. '7 is a sectional view on the line 1-4 of Fig. 5.-

Fig. 8 is a sectional view on the line 88 of Fig. '7.

wfiig. 9 isa sectional View on the linei99 oi In multi-color printing,'and in particular in multi-color gravure printing, it is customary toplace various register marks on the original'color copy. These registermarks are photographed in making the separation negatives and positivesof 5 the copy, each said separation corresponding to one of theprimarycolors. In gravure printing,:it is customary to use carbontissues in the process of etching the printing cylinder. The registermarks which are available are those which indi- 10 cate the pagelocations and the like, and it is necessary to have the register marksin correct and identical location relative to each oth'enon each of thesuccessive printing cylinders, each of which prints 9, separate color.

' Inactual practice, it is customary to take four separation negativesof the copy, one separation corresponding to the black tone or color ofthe original copy, the other negatives being separations whichcorrespond to'the respectiveprimary 20 colors.

Referring to Fig. 1, this shows a master sheet :of paper or metal I,which corresponds in size and shape to the sheet of paper which is to beprinted upon. Said sheet of paper is provided with'mar- 25 gin lines '2and 3. The area of the sheet'l which is defined by the margin line 2,corresponds tothe sheet of paper which is to be printed upon. The marginline 3 defines the area of the printed matter upon said sheet. Forexample, if the printing 3'0 is'to be done upon a newspaper, the size ofthe newspaper sheet is defined by the margin line 2.

Said master sheet I is provided with centre lines 4 and 5, which areperpendicular to each other.

Fig. '2 represents a sheet' of glass or celluloid or other suitablelight-permeable material 6, which carriesa pictorial representation 1,said pictorial representation 1 being a negative separation whichcorresponds to one of the primary colors. 40 Said light-permeable member'6 is provided with any suitable number of registration marks, whichmaybe arranged in any suitable manner. For purposes of illustration, Ihave shown four registration marks 8, 8a, 8b, and 80. These 'registra- 5tion marks are photographic reproductions of registration marks whichhavebeen' located upon the original copy, prior to taking the separationnegatives thereof.

- Hence the registration marks upon the lightpermeable sheet *6 resultfrom the photographic printing, when the separation is made.

'Assh'own in Figs.3 and 4, the negativetransparency}6 is now placed overthe master sheet I with the'registration marks 8, 8a, 8b, 80, located inthe space between the margin lines 2 and 3, or in any other position,dependent upon the location of the separation negative on sheet 5.

Marks 4a and 5a are now made upon the back of transparency 6. Thesemarks 4a and 5a are straight lines, which overlie the original lines 4and 5, of the sheet of paper I. These marks 4a and 5a may be located inany part of the separation member 5,'depending upon the location of thenegative in said member 6.

; The tool which is used for securing the registration, consistssubstantially of a frame member F, made of any suitable metal. Saidframe F is provided with two straight edges l0 and II, which areperpendicular to each other. As shown in Fig. '7, said straight edgescan be provided by means of separate plates P, which can be 'connectedin any suitable manner to the underside...

of the frame F.

ber of hubs H. In this embodiment I have shown four of said hubs, eachof said hubs corresponding to one of the registration marks. I 1; Thegeneral construction of the hubsand appurtenant parts is identicaL'andsuch. general construction is illustrated in Fig. 7.

. shown in Fig. 8.

Fig. 7 shows a sleeve 16, which abuts the top of the hub H.

A stud'ld is located in each hub H and in the associated sleeve l6. Eachsaid .stud I4 is pro-, vided with an enlarged head Ma. Likewise, the topof each stud I4 is provided with an externally threaded extension Mb,whose diameter is less than the diameter of the stud [4.

A slide rod l5, having a flat and planar top face, fits slidably insuitable aligned bores which are provided in the sleeve I6 and in thestud I l.

The sleeve 16 and the stud M are turnable on the hub H, so that eachslide rod l5 can be given a turning movement as well as a slidingmovement. This turning movement is graphically represented by the arcs,in Fig. 5,, i p

Each slide rod I5 canbe clamped in adjusted position relative to itssleeve HS and itsstud l4.

. A collar I! has a planar annular surface, which abuts the top planarsurface of the rod l5, as

, Awasher I8, made of a suitable compressible and resilient material, islocated on top-of the clamping collar H. A nut N can be screwed downupon the threaded extension I 41), so as to com,- press the washer I8,and to clamp the rod l5 be-, tween the sleeve 16 and the collar l1. Whenthe rod l5 is, thusclamped, the cylindrical portion thereof is forcedagainst the correspondingly shaped parts of the bores in the sleeve I6and stud I 4. d

Slides l9 and are mounted upon the rod I5. The rod l5 passes through abore in the slide l9, and said slide I9 is provided with an externallythreaded extension I912. The slide I9 is adjustably clamped in positionupon the rod I 5, by, means of a clamping collar 22, a washer 2|, and anut 20. This part of the construction is generally the sameas' thatshown at the upper lefthand side of Fig. 7. V

V A knurled and internally threaded wheel 23 is turnably mounted in theslide l 9, and the turning of said member 23 moves a screw. 24 back andforth. The right hand side of the screw 24 is connected to the slide 25.This provides, a fineadjustment for the slide 25.

. The slide rod 15 passes through a bore in the slide 25, andsaidslide25 is provided with an ex.- srne ly. thread d x e s o .5 1...Th sl deliie bore of the shank 3|. 7 The frame F is provided witha'suitable num'-' adjustably clamped in position, by means of a clampingcollar 28, a washer 21, and nut 26. The slide 25 has an unthreadedextension 25b which extends above nut 26, and extension 251) has aknurled sleeve 26a which may be turnable or fixed 5 relative to 25b.

The lower part of the slide 25 is provided with a bore 30. Likewise thelower end portion of the slide 25 is provided with an external thread250 and said slide 25 is provided with a tapered bot- 10 tom end 28,which has a frusto-conical shape. The bottom of the slide 25 is providedWith a suitable number of vertical slots 21, so that said bottom portionof the slide 25 is resilient and compressible. A shank 3! is located inthe bore 15 30 of the slide 25. The pointer 32 is connected to saidshank 3|, by means of an assembly 33, which is connected to a stem 31a,which is located in a Fig. '7 shows a sleeve 29, which canbe screwedupon the thread 250. The 20 sleeve 29 has a tapered lip at. its bottomend, so that when the sleeve 29 is screwed upwardly, it compresses theresilient and slotted lower end of the member 25, thus gripping theassociated shank. The pointer 32 is held in like manner 5 on said shank3|, by assembly 33.

The tool is providedwith supplemental hubs Ha, which are provided withthe same parts which have previously been described.

If the multi-color copy corresponds to a com-. 0:

plete page, separations of the complete page are made, one of suchseparations being shown in Fig. 2. This separation is placed on top of'the master sheet, and in this case the register marks will be located asshown in Fig. 3, in the areas 35'; between lines 2 and 3. The tool isnow placed on the separation, with its straight edges aligned with thecentre lines 4 and 5, and with the point ers 32 on'the registrationmarks 8, 8a, 8b, and 8c. 7 The straight edges of the tool are then usedfor 4Q making the location marks or lines 4a and 5a. The tool is nowplaced successively upon the other separations of the multi-color copywhich correspond to said first-mentioned separation and with thepointers 32 touching said registra- 45. tion marks. The. straight edgesof the tool are used to scribelocation marks upon the additionalseparations of each page, so that said location marks 4a and 5a arescribed upon each separation of said page in exactly the same posiv tionon each separation. I

If a colored gravure supplement is printed for a newspaper, thecylinders print a plurality of sheets (such as eight or sixteen), eachcylinder printing one color, and these sheets are cut subsequently toprinting.

After the negatives have been provided with location marks, thenegatives which correspond to each color can be assembled with greataccuracy, in a group of eight or sixteen or the like, by aligning thecentre lines of the respective transparencies. A single composite orassembly positive can now be made from each group of negativetransparencies. Each assembly positive can now be used for making anassembly negative on a sheet of carbon tissue. The sheets of carbontissue can be placed upon their respective cylinders in accurateposition, by making suitable markings on the cylinders, or by usingwell-known devices. responding etched portions will register accur=ately. I f

If the multi-colored sheets are separated from each other'in a gravuresupplement,.or. if the supplement has only a single multi-color gravure;

.When the cylinders are etched, thecori sheet, the sheet or sheets ofcarbon tissue can be accurately located on the respective cylinders, bythe use of the location markings 4a and 5a. For this purpose, markingscan be made upon the cylinders, by well-known apparatus, and saidlocation markings are used in combination with the cylinder markings, sothat the cylinders are etched accurately.

These location markings are preferably centrepage markings, but they maybe markings of any type and in any location.

In many cases, the multi-color copy for a single page will consist oftwo or more separated multicolor pictures. In such a case, separatetransparencies are made of each picture, these transparencies having thegeneral size of the full page. The positions of the separations on thetransparencies need not be the same as the position of the correspondingpicture on the page, and the angle between the edges of the respectivetransparencies and the negative separations thereof, need not be thesame as the angle between the picture and the edges of the page copy.

A transparent separation negative of one picture of the page is nowplaced over the master sheet I, with the separation in the properlocation and angle on said master sheet I. For example, if the pictureis to occupy the lower right-hand corner of the page, the correspondingseparation is located in the lower right-hand corner of the mastersheet. .Before making the separations, the multi-color picture isprovided with registration marks adjacent the edges of the picture, andin such case, the registration marks will not be located between thelines 2 and 3, when the negative transparency is placed upon the mastersheet.

The tool is now used upon one of the separations to make the firstlocation marks 4a and 5a, and the tool is then used upon the successiveseparations of the same picture, in the manner previously stated, so asto produce location marks on each transparency, in the proper positions.

This is done with each picture which is on the same page.

The location marks on the positives which are made from said negativetransparencies, are now used to assemble said positives in properrelative position, in order to prepare the carbon tissue resist which isused for etching the cylinder.

If the picture is in the lower right-hand corner of the page and centerpage location lines are used, saidlines will appear in the upperlefthand section of the separation.

The cylinders can be provided with markings of any type, such as centreline markings, or any other type of marking, and the carbon tissueseparations are provided with corresponding markings which coincide withthe cylinder markings, during the etching of the cylinders.

If desired, the transparencies 6 may be positives instead of beingnegatives, and in such case the centre lines will be marked on thelight-permeable positives by means of the method heretofore described.

The transparencies 6 may be smaller or larger, or of the same size asthe sheet of paper on which the results are to be printed.

I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, but it is clearthat numerous changes and omissions can be made without departing fromits spirit.

I claim:

1. A method of securing registration in multicolor printing with the useof a plurality of separations of multi-color copy on light-permeablematerial, said separations having registration marks in the samerelative position on each said separation which consists in providinglocation markings on one of said separations by using the straight edgesof a scribing tool guide, While said straight edges are in alignmentwith the location markings of a master sheet and while reference pointsof said guide coincide with said registration marks, and then locatingsaid guide upon the other separations of said copy with the referencepoints of said guide coincident with said registration marks on saidseparations and using said straight edges to make location markings onthe other separations, so that the location markings will have the samerelative positions on each of said separations.

2. For use in securing registration in a plurality of separations ofmulti-color copy on light-permeable material multi-color printing, atool guide having straight edges which are perpendicular to each other,said tool having hubs, sleeves turnably mounted relative to said hubs,means for clamping said sleeves in adjusted position, rods slidablymounted in said hubs, pointer mounts slidably mounted on said rods, saidrods also having fineadjustment means mounted thereon and connected tosaid pointer mounts.

3. For use in securing registration in a plurality of separations ofmulti-color copy or lightpermeable material multi-color printing, a toolguide having straight edges which are perpendicular to each other, saidguide having first members turnably mounted thereon, means for clampingsaid first turnable members in position, said first turnable membershaving second turnable members slidably connected thereto, means forclamping said second slidable members in position relative to the firstturnable member, said second slidable members having pointer mountsslidably mounted thereon, means for clamping said pointer mounts on saidslidable members, said slidable members having additional slides on saidslidable members, said additional slides carrying fine adjustment meanswhich are connected to the pointer mounts.

4. A method of securing registration in multicolor printing with the useof separations of multicolor copy on separation members, which consistsin providing each said member with corresponding registration marks fromthe original multicolor copy, forming location markings on one of saidmembers and then forming corresponding location markings on the othermembers by using said registration markings as reference points, so thatthe location markings on each member will have the same positionrelative to said registration marks, irrespective of the location of theseparation on the separation member.

GUSTAVE A. FRIESS.

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